ND filter for landscape shooting

Terrence

What brand and type of ND filter do you reccomend for landscapes? I'm finalizing my bag contents for the upcoming Shootout at Glacier and an ND filter is the last thing I need and I have no clue when it comes to filters.

drdane

Terrence wrote:

What brand and type of ND filter do you reccomend for landscapes? I'm finalizing my bag contents for the upcoming Shootout at Glacier and an ND filter is the last thing I need and I have no clue when it comes to filters.

Hi, Terrence

I assume you are referring to "graduated" ND filters. I have a couple of cheapo graduated ND's from Cokin, the P-120 (1 stop) and the P-121 (2 stop). They work, but they do reduce the sharpness of your image. I think they were about $20-25 each, plus the holder & adapter ring - another $16 or so.

Was it you who just got the 70-200 f2.8? If so, you'd have to hold one of the P series Cokin over the lens yourself, as the holder is too small for a 77mm thread lens. On second thought, you probably wouldn;t be using that lens for your landscapes, anyway - more likely a wide angle. I use the 10-22mm from canon, which also has a 77 filter thread, requiring that I hold the thing up there myself, which is OK if I have a spare hand - I don't recommend it.

In my experience, GND filters only work well in certain circumstances, like when there is a relatively linear dividing line between the light and dark parts of your scene.

Another alternative is to use contrast blending or contrast masking techniques which are described in tutorials on theluminouslandscape.com - these are worth knowing about. Then there is the "Merge to HDR" feature in PS CS 2 and 3, which works well sometimes and not others, especially if the sun is included in the scene. At least this is true with the antiquated sensor in my 300D Rebel. It is easily overwhemed with high contrast scenes. I'm planning to get the 40D next month, which is supposed to be a big imporvement over my old rebel.

Somewhere on line there is one or more companies that sell HDR software, but I don't know if it's worth what they charge for it. Does anybody else have experience with this kind of software? I'd like to find something that works really well myself . . .

Back to the filters - you may need to spend about $100 apiece for decent GND's - I think that was the Lee filters, and you can spend a lot more for the Singh-Ray. I've never used anything that good so I can't tell you if it's worth the extra cash or not. Someone else here probably can!

Good luck!
Dane